Sarian Rangers
The Sarian Rangers are a battalion-sized military unit of the Provincial Armies of the Union. True to Commonwealth practices, they are constituted near-completely by Sarians and utilize traditional Sarian training practices, decorum, protocols and attire. Advanced training practices and weapons, though, have been adopted from Caspian and off-world influences. The essence of the Ranger is emulative of the Sarian Zealot. Like their predecessor, they rely on both blending into and utilizing the elements to fufill their missions. A good amount of emphasis is placed on working as a team, something the oft-solo Zealot was not accustomed to doing. The Rangers are not, however, suited for large-scale operations or engagements. Rather, their mission role is best expressed as a coup de main — a covert ops, or asset-denial type of action, executed with small resources at pivotal points, where opportunity exists for strategic impacts of far grander proportions than the investment of manpower would imply. They are not particularly suited for deployment amongst foreign populaces, primarily because of the difficulty in concealing their Sarian characteristics. More appropriately, the Rangers are an ideal instrument to either lend covert, limited-contact aid to the Union's interests, or to matriculate through commonwealth territory and neutralize minor threats before they manifest or increase. It has been theorized that they have acted in both of these capacities among the Union's more troublesome neighbors, particularly in response to Huttese sponsored depredations against the Union. Unit Composition Ranger units are organized into companies, but rarely are they deployed in the field as such. More commonly in present-day operations, deployment is in the form of eight-man cords or four-man elements. A typical cord is comprised of a junior-grade officer or non-com officer as lead, surrounded by specialists of varying lesser ranks. More often than not, these specialties overlap, but for more focused tasks, such as demolition (for example), a pair of demolitions "experts" will be woven into the cord to perform the demolition mission solely (for example). Regarded as possibly the smallest military unit, they are nonetheless the most diverse. Over 80 percent of their ranks are Sarians, while the rest are composed of nearly every other race in regional space; Nikto, Vodran, Klatooinian, Human, Brigian, though this is often in a support or administration capacity. Operational History Ranger units found themselves pressed into service, and fighting side-by-side with Marines, during the Siege of Trinumvira. At several points during the protracted battle, individual Rangers were re-appropriated into cohesive units with skilled Marines or Provincials so as to effectively combat the Imperial siege when or where needed. On the third day of the siege, Boxer Company of the Rangers worked in coordination with elements of the 28th Marines to rush to the Soyometin (Southern Pass of the Vira Bluffs) in an attempt to keep an advance Imperial column from taking the pass and severing the Aerotram route between Plaxton and the southern cities. This mixed-unit effort held out for an entire day before being forced to withdraw with heavy casualties back into the heights around Trinumvira. Later, a cord detached from Echo Company, Rangers was operating under limited coordination out in downtown Plaxton. The ten-being team (the Rangers had picked up a stray Marine and a Constable) managed to avoid detection within the city's limits and worked to relay intelligence to those holed up in Trinumvira Base. On the thirty-third night, they were appraised of Presav Dusten's whereabouts, and were instructed to facilitate a rescue if the opportunity presented itself. They spent the next week maneuvering into position, only to be redirected to a much more opportune target — Warlord Rellik himself was reported to be occupying Castle Rock Manor. On the fortieth night of the siege, the cord infiltrated Castle Rock Manor only to find that neither Presav Dusten nor Warlord Rellik were there. Dejected, the team recovered to the north amidst possible tracking by the Imperial forces and spent the rest of the siege in the northern bluffs. Towards the end of the siege, a team of Rangers from Able, Boxer, and Dinko companies was effectively wiped out when they attempted to infiltrate past the trench lines and into The Oceanside hotel complex so as to liberate the internees and deny the Empire's use of the hotel (and Club Infinity) as a command and observation post. Ranger platoons and cords were reputed to be in placed on and around Mutanda at several times, especially during the tempestuous time period between 14 ABY and 16 ABY. A Ranger company, at least, has been deployed "natively" on Ngor Nghal for the past three years so as to covertly discourage pirate gangs and raider cells from conducting operations upon the tepid planet. ---- Category:CDU_Organizations